Rainbow Dash and the buff looking police pony were still arguing when I was close enough to the house. Thankfully, Rainbow didn’t try to force herself in. She would’ve been cuffed right there.

“That’s enough!” I shouted at both of them. They both turned their heads to look at me.

I flashed my police badge at the police pony. “Detective Shadow Haze. I was called to investigate. Rainbow Dash is working with me on this case. I’ll take it from here.” I told him.

The police pony looked at Rainbow again. She smirked at him. Arrogant bitch.

He walked away from the steps to let us investigate. And as Rainbow Dash was about to fly in, I encased her with my magic and pulled her toward me.

“Hey, what was that for?” She asked angrily.

“You don’t want to see this. The Vic is your friend. Stay out here and I’ll look over what happened.” I said as she looked at me with with a cross expression while folding her forelegs.

“I promise once I’m done, I’ll fill you in on the situation. I’ll also ask you some questions since you know the Vic. Okay?” I told her.

She just snorted and said “Fine.”

With that, I walked into the house. As I entered the front door(while also being greeted by a few forensic ponies), I started to look over the whole downstairs area. I heard ponies upstairs, and I didn’t see a body here, so I’m guessing that’s where the Vic is.

Speaking of the front door, I took a look at it and noticed that the doorknob and the latch didn’t appear to be tampered with. And the door itself didn’t show any dents in it. So, it appears that the Vic knew her attacker.

And, unfortunately from what Cadaver told me, rapist and murderer. I sighed as I thought about how this job never gets easier. Even if you’ve been doing it for years.

Now, the living room itself was nothing with consequence to the case(at least not that I know of yet), however the kitchen, that’s when I started to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

There were two dinner plates at a table with scraps of food on them. Daisy sandwiches with hay fries. I also saw two wine glasses with a little bit of wine left at the bottom of each of them. So, the Vic and the potential suspect had an alcoholic beverage together.

So, I levitated both glasses into a plastic bag and gave them to a few forensic ponies. I told them to take it for a DNA test.

After that, I walked upstairs and before I walked into the bedroom, where the Vic must be due to all the commotion I’m hearing from there, I walked into the bathroom right next to it. The only thing that probably had significance to the case was the beauty products I found on and near the sink. There was lip gloss, eye shadow, blush, hairspray, you name it. I guess it appears that the Vic must’ve gotten herself dolled up for a great night with some pony.

Maybe that somepony she planned to spend the night with is who ended up raping and murdering her.

Then, I finally walked out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. The bedroom of the Vic. Cadaver was there looking over the body. The Vic was a Pegasus mare(no shit). She had an dark orange coat with light yellow mane that at one point was probably a shaggy looking mane. Now, it was disheveled all to shit. She also had a trio of gusts of wind for a cutie mark.

That’s when I started to feel the remorse for the Vic turn on instantly. This mare looked no older than 22. She was so young. Had her whole life ahead of her, only to have it taken away by some piece of fucking shit.

The Vic was lying on the bed. Her face did indeed have makeup on it. Guess those beauty products weren’t out for nothing. I saw her eye shadow and mascara was now all over her face and had run down to her chin.

Oh Celestia. This mare must’ve been crying while she was being raped. She must’ve been so scared in the last moment of her life. The poor thing.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, I saw ligature marks on her neck. She also had a few bruises on her face and back and shoulders. This mare was beaten and strangled to death. Apparently by some rope or something.

Guess our suspect likes to play rough when it comes to sex. It also looks like she didn’t.

I shook my head as I walked over to Cadaver. He noticed me and immediately greeted me.

“Hey Detective.” He said to me in a remorseful tone.

“Hello Cadaver.” I said, looking over the room. I saw on the nightstand there was an unopened box of condoms. Looked newly bought as well. Guess somepony thought about safe sex and somepony didn’t give a shit.

Now I’m having a sense of deja vu.

“So, what have we got?” I asked him.

He nodded. “Vic’s name is Gust Gale. She’s a Wonderbolt. Judging from her age, she’s about 20-21 years old, I’d say she hasn’t been one for a long time. Maybe about 2 years or so.” He explained.

“What’s the condition of the body?” I asked, although I kinda had a feeling about what was gonna be said by him.

Cadaver have a big sigh. “There was seminal fluids on and around her legs, as well as vaginal trauma. Suspect apparently didn’t wear a condom. So, I’ve gotten started on analyzing DNA from a rape kit.” He said as he gave another sigh.

“Detective, there’s no other way to say this. She suffered.” He told me as he looked to the ground in sadness for the Vic.

I feel bad for him. His job is almost as bad as mine is. He has to go tests on dead ponies and find out how and why they died, when he really, deep down, probably doesn’t want to.

Cadaver is a good and brave stallion for having the balls to do this kind of job. That’s something I admire in somepony like him.

Heh. Maybe he could be a pretty good friend of mine. That could make Twilight happy.

So, I put my hoof on is shoulder. He looked up at me and into my eyes.

“I know.” I said. “This job doesn’t get easier. But, you’re a good and tough stallion for pulling through this.” I said to him.

He smiled. I guess that cheered him up a little bit. “Thanks Detective.” He said.

“Call me Shadow, okay?” I said as I pulled my hoof away from his shoulder.

He nodded.

I looked around the room one last time before deciding to head back to Rainbow Dash.

However, there was something missing from this room that just bugged me.

“Has anypony found Gale’s Wonderbolt uniform by any chance?” I asked Cadaver, who was back to looking over the body.

He shook his head. “Not yet, but once me or somepony here does, I’ll let you know.” He said.

They haven’t found her Wonderbolt uniform? That’s kinda odd.

Before I walked out, Cadaver called out to me, “Dete-I mean Shadow?”

I turned back to him.

He smiled and said, “Thanks again.”

I nodded back before I went back outside.

-/- Outside with Rainbow Dash -/-

As I walked outside, I saw Rainbow Dash looking impatient. Anxious. Like she wanted to get a move on. Guess I have to give her this: she doesn’t like to waste time.

Kinda like me when I’m on a case.

She flew over to me and started to bombard me with questions.

“So? How bad? Did she suffer? Is there anything on a suspect? What is it? Come on Shadow Haze, just tell me.” She asked, sounding frantic. Guess I can’t blame her. The Vic is a friend and fellow Wonderbolt.

I sighed. This is where things are gonna get bad. I just know it.

“Well, Gust Gale had somepony over for dinner. They had one or maybe a few glasses of wine together. The suspect and Gale went up to her bedroom where....” I trailed off. Does she really want me to be blunt?

“Where what? Just tell me.” Rainbow said, looking on the verge of tears.

I shook my head in remorse before I told her. “Where she was raped and murdered. Rainbow, I’m sorry to say this, but she did suffer as she died. She looked as if she was crying while it happened. She was scared and she suffered a horrible death.” I told her.

Her head went down to the clouds. I could hear her heavy breathing. Well, actually, this looked more like seething. As in seething with anger. While also having tears in her eyes with sadness. Her front legs were shaking.

Was I a little too blunt? I don’t know. But, either way, I felt so bad for her. I know I didn’t exactly get off on the right hoof with her, but that doesn’t mean I can’t feel any sympathy for her.

“Rainbow, I’m so sorry. I can’t begin to imagine what you’re going through right now.” I said to her.

She turned away from me, now her back facing me. It was like she didn’t want me to see her in this weak state. Can’t say I blame her.

“Look, I know this is tough right now, but if you know anything about Gust Gale, I’m gonna need to ask you some questions. Can you at least do that for me?” I asked her, trying to sound as remorseful as possible.

She was silent for a moment before she turned back and told me, “I can give you a little bit. But, if you want to know a lot, talk with Captain Spitfire. She took Gust Gale under her wing when she first started Wonderbolt training two years ago.”

I nodded. “Okay. That’s good. Now, how close were you and Gale?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Not as close as a few of the others, but we still talked. She was such a nice girl.” She gave a quick groan. “Why her?” Why did that have to happen to her?” She asked.

“Sometimes, things like this just happen, Rainbow Dash. You can’t stop it.” I told her.

“Yes. You can.” She said, giving me a cross look. Guess there’s no use trying to tell her otherwise.

“Did you know if she had a boyfriend?” I asked her.

She rolled her eyes. “All of us on the Wonderbolts knew. She met him after one of our shows when he waited for her outside the arena. She had gotten a few love letters from our fan mail from him.” She said. We started to walk down a random street as we continued talking.

“What was this guy’s name?” I asked her.

“Corkscrew. Only saw him a few times, but didn’t get a good read on him. Seemed like a nice guy.” She said, now scowling.

“Do you know somepony who did get a good read on him?” I asked.

She nodded. “Captain Spitfire. For some reason, she just didn’t like him. There was just something about him that she just didn’t like. She thought he was a creep or something.” She said.

“Why?” I asked, writing everything down.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. But, I think she thought she knew him from somewhere. Back when her and Soarin were in high school. She just couldn’t remember though.” She said.

After I finished writing everything down, I said to Rainbow, “Alright that should be enough. We should talk with Spitfire now.”

“Right.” She said. Before I could say another thing, she scooped me up again and flew me and her over to the Wonderbolt base.

As she held me in her hooves while she flew, I couldn’t help but be fascinated by the look of Cloudsdale. It looked beautiful from up here.

You know, me and my sister Melody Rays growing up with a family of grounded Pegasi, I always had a thought in my head about what it would be like to fly in the clouds. My cousins, or other sisters as they prefer to be called, would talk about how it felt like you were at peace with yourself. Relaxation. Like your body was on Cloud 9.

I don’t know if I felt like that now, but it still felt cool to see this.

I looked up at Rainbow Dash, still hanging on to me. “Hey?” I said.

She looked down. “Hm?”

“We’re gonna find the fucker that did this to your friend. I promise.” I gave her a quick smile before going back to my usual deadpan expression.

She looked to her left for a quick second. “Yeah. We will.”

We were silent for the rest of the flight until we landed at the Wonderbolt base.

Author's Note

Hey everyone, sorry this is late, I had different projects I was working on that weren’t MLP related. But, here ya go. Make sure to comment, like, follow and favorite for future updates. Thanks and goodnight everybody.